Twenty of Australia’s top scientists are calling to permanently ban fracking in the Northern Territory because of its impact on climate change.

The joint statement, written in response to the Final Report of the NT Fracking Inquiry, commends the Inquiry’s findings that the increase of greenhouse gases that would result from fracking is “unacceptable” and again urged the Government to ban fracking.

The scientists also firmly rejected the suggestion that if these emissions were “offset” it could result in an “acceptable outcome”.

Over summer there were 16 major breakdowns at Victoria’s three brown coal plants, Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B and Yallourn. All of these breakdowns saw hundreds of megawatts of capacity withdrawn from the grid almost instantly. This made Victoria the standout state for power plant breakdowns.

New analysis from the Australia institute has found that emissions from NT Fracking identified by the Fracking Inquiry would be equivalent to 100 times more than the emissions savings under the Northern Territory Government’s Roadmap to Renewables: 50% by 2030 policy.

The number of days over 35oC in Darwin has increased from 5.6 per year to 22.2 per year. CSIRO modelling estimates that without climate action this could rise to 132 days per year in 2030 and 275 days per year in 2070. Such extreme heat would have profound effects on human health, industries and ecosystems. Given the NT’s vulnerability to climate change, development of emission-intensive oil and gas reserves are not in the Territory’s interests.

Polling released today by The Australia Institute shows strong support for reviewing the environmental approval for the Adani mine in the Prime Minister’s seat, as well as the seat of Brisbane.

On the evening of 5th March ReachTEL surveyed 676 voters in Wentworth and a 747 voters in the electorate of Brisbane, with a series of questions on the Adani mine and the surrounding policy options, including reviewing the environmental approval and stopping taxpayer subsidies.

“Adani isn’t just a potent issue in Batman. It’s an issue on the government and the Prime Minister’s plate, right now, said Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director at The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute made a Submission to Review of the rate of return guidelines. As an appendix we have attached a paper, The equity premium in Australia, that should be read in conjunction with this submission. This paper was prepared for the 2017 Conference of the Society of Heterodox Economists at the University of New South Wales.

This submission will mainly concentrate on the use of two premia; the inflation premium and the ‘equity premium’ as it is generally called in the economics literature.

OpenNEM

The Australia Institute is the country’s most influential progressive think tank. We conduct research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues in order to inform public debate and bring greater accountability to the democratic process.